ABC's of Effective Witnessing to Catholics
Aug 1, 2014 9:00:33 GMT -5
Post by baydoll on Aug 1, 2014 9:00:33 GMT -5
From Mike Gendron's Proclaiming the Gospel-
Many of the 70 million Catholics in America were born into their religion and have never examined their faith through the lens of Scripture. From infancy they are taught that salvation comes through their church as they merit saving grace through the sacraments and perform religious rituals and good works to be justified and re-justified. Roman Catholicism is often called the "plus" religion because of what it has added to the Gospel of grace. Catholic salvation is based on Jesus plus Mary, faith plus works, grace plus merit, Scripture plus tradition and the blood of Jesus plus purgatory. Catholics do not know that any addition to the Gospel is a denial of the sufficiency of Christ (Heb. 7:25). Any addition to the Gospel also nullifies the saving grace of God, which is the only means by which God saves sinners (Romans 11:6). Catholics, who are victims of this deception, need to be evangelized with the true Gospel of grace.
As we witness to Catholics, we must persevere with patience to untangle the sticky web of religious indoctrination that holds them captive (Col. 2:8). Let us follow the instructions of Paul and "not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, and correcting opponents with gentleness." We must pray for God to "grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth", that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who holds them captive to do his will (2 Tim. 2:24-26).
The two most important biblical principles to remember as you witness are to:
1) establish Scripture as the supreme authority for truth (2 Tim. 3:15-17) and
2) proclaim the Lord Jesus as the all-sufficient Savior (Heb. 7:25; Acts 4:12).
Read more here:
www.pro-gospel.org/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=180066646&sec_id=180014816
Many of the 70 million Catholics in America were born into their religion and have never examined their faith through the lens of Scripture. From infancy they are taught that salvation comes through their church as they merit saving grace through the sacraments and perform religious rituals and good works to be justified and re-justified. Roman Catholicism is often called the "plus" religion because of what it has added to the Gospel of grace. Catholic salvation is based on Jesus plus Mary, faith plus works, grace plus merit, Scripture plus tradition and the blood of Jesus plus purgatory. Catholics do not know that any addition to the Gospel is a denial of the sufficiency of Christ (Heb. 7:25). Any addition to the Gospel also nullifies the saving grace of God, which is the only means by which God saves sinners (Romans 11:6). Catholics, who are victims of this deception, need to be evangelized with the true Gospel of grace.
As we witness to Catholics, we must persevere with patience to untangle the sticky web of religious indoctrination that holds them captive (Col. 2:8). Let us follow the instructions of Paul and "not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, and correcting opponents with gentleness." We must pray for God to "grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth", that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who holds them captive to do his will (2 Tim. 2:24-26).
The two most important biblical principles to remember as you witness are to:
1) establish Scripture as the supreme authority for truth (2 Tim. 3:15-17) and
2) proclaim the Lord Jesus as the all-sufficient Savior (Heb. 7:25; Acts 4:12).
Read more here:
www.pro-gospel.org/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=180066646&sec_id=180014816
